Ons Jabeur had no sooner reached the refuge of the players’ tunnel, safely beyond the prying gaze of the 15,000 spectators on Rod Laver Arena, than she sank to her knees, devastated and disconsolate. Sport can break the strongest soul, and in the moments of quiet despair that followed her 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 defeat to Marketa Vondrousova at the Australian Open, where she was the second seed, Jabeur was briefly relieved of her obligations as Tunisia’s unofficial minister of happiness.
That moniker must be hard to live up to sometimes. Tennis is a world in which happiness and victory are natural bedfellows, yet there can be only one winner at the end of a tournament and, so far at the majors, it has not been Jabeur. There must be moments when the smiles and the quips and the charisma do not come so readily. Still, Jabeur is uniquely suited to her nickname. She radiates positivity; her game is a celebration of the sport’s possibilities, no spin left unspun, no angle left unexplored.
Yet Jabeur has not been herself at this tournament, struggling to locate her usual fluency and range in either of her two matches in Melbourne, a magician bereft of magic, a sorceress devoid of sorcery. Errors have flowed freely, balls alternately flying off her racket or limping tamely into the net. It would be wrong to second guess the reasons, although Jabeur has clearly been troubled by a longstanding knee problem, wearing a chunky support bandage in both her matches. Following her defeat, she issued a statement citing breathing difficulties. Whether the problem has afflicted her since the start of the event remains unclear. Either way, an 11.25pm start is unlikely to have helped.
“I had a difficult time breathing,” said Jabeur, who later alluded to “health issues” in a social media post. “Not sure what’s happening. Marketa played a good match and deserved to win. I will do my best to come back stronger.”
Against Vondrousova, the Tunisian showed visible signs of irritation within two points, gesturing accusingly at her feet after flicking a high backhand volley wide. When she fell further behind in the next game, Vondrousova punishing a short second serve to claim the first break, Jabeur wore an expression of furrowed-brow bemusement. The same haunted look had been seen during her unconvincing first-round win over Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek. Vondrousova quickly consolidated her advantage, drilling away a backhand winner to move 3-0 ahead in just eight minutes. Jabeur looked destined for a rapid exit.
To her credit, the Wimbledon and US Open runner-up rallied to take the second set, although even that was touch and go. Pegged back after leading 4-1, Jabeur missed a set point on her serve at 5-3 before breaking to love with a sweeping forehand winner as Vondrousova served to stay in the set. But on a night when she notched up 50 unforced errors and suffered eight breaks of serve, the consistency required to beat a player of the Czech’s quality eluded her.
It was nonetheless a big win for Vondrousova as she continues her return to the tour following wrist surgery last May. The 23-year-old, a former French Open finalist and Olympic silver medallist, has a history of wrist problems, having previously undergone surgery in 2019, but the latest procedure has evidently worked wonders.
“It was good and I have no pain,” said Vondrousova, who will face her 17-year-old compatriot Linda Fruhvirtova, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell, in round three. More of a pain was the scheduling, admitted the Czech.
“It was very late, so I think we were both very tired,” said Vondrousova. “I’m just very happy that I stayed focused and stayed in the match.”
She knows she will need to be on her mettle against the gifted and fearless Fruhvirtova.
“She’s a great hitter,” said Vondrousova. “I think she’s playing amazing for her age also, so it’s going to be tough match. I think she has nothing to lose. I just want to get some sleep, and we’ll see how it goes.”